A Guide to Recycling in Hong Kong

written by Tigger from Curious Typhoon

There are recycling bins all over Hong Kong on the streets, in housing estates, and at MTR stations, but do you know what can actually be recycled and how to make sure you’re giving your items the best chance at a new life? 

Composted Impact berry coffee ground from Janice Baird, one of our customers:"This is what our Impact Berry coffee grounds looked like after composting with our other waste. (...), just emptied our composter last weekend!

Hong Kong’s CommunityRecycling Network covers eight types of common recyclables: 

1. Waste Paper, like dry cardboard, newspaper, and clean paper food packaging with any plastic removed;

2. Metals, emptied and rinsed, except for aerosol cans and chemical containers;

3. Plastics (YES! This includes plastic bags), and emptied and rinsed bottles, Styrofoam, and more; 

4. Glass, emptied and rinsed with caps removed, except for mirrors, windows, and cooking ware;

5. Regulated Electrical Equipment (REE), including air conditioners, washing machines, computers, printers, TVs, and more. The government offers a free pickup service for these items if you call them;

6. Small Electrical Appliances, like cameras, vacuum cleaners, phones, fans, etc.;

7. Fluorescent Lamps and Tubes, wrapped in paper, except for incandescent or LED bulbs; and

8. Rechargeable Batteries, with the terminals covered in masking tape, except for single-use batteries or car acid batteries. 

In addition to these common goods, Hong Kong also has public clothing recycling banks everywhere. You can find a complete list of locations here. 

When items are picked up from the roadside three-color recycling bins, they’re sent to local recyclers and processed into recycled products or raw materials. While these bins are convenient, there’s an even better option for neighbourhood recycling now!

Last year, Hong Kong introduced a new recycling initiative called GREEN @ COMMUNITY, a network of stores, stations, and pop-ups dedicated to recycling around the city. Green Queen has an in-depth post introducing the new GREEN @ COMMUNITY stores. They look absolutely amazing, packed with clear instructions and support facilities like washing stations to help us properly prepare our recycling for their next stage of life. The initiative is also equipped with an incentive programme for people to earn GREEN$ points through recycling, which can be used to redeem gift items. It’s a huge leap forward for Hong Kong’s recycling infrastructure, and we can’t wait to see a greener living culture take hold throughout the city. 

Here, on Hollywood Road with no recycling bins, you even find armchairs in the streets.

Of course, the best solution to avoid overwhelming landfills is to reduce any waste created in the first place. That’s why we take extra care to consider the end life of the packaging that Impact Berry coffee comes in. For our wholesale coffee bean orders, we pack your coffee in INVISIBLE bags that are totally water-soluble, non-toxic, and plastic-free! There’s no packaging to recycle or throw away because you can simply dissolve the bag in hot water yourself. 

EXTRA TIPP: Have you tried a home composter? You can fin them for example in Ekologic in Happy Valley.

For individual bags of Impact Berry coffee, our packaging is fully recyclable, even the breathing valve. Our coffee bags are 100% HDPE plastic, which is supported by Hong Kong’s recycling facilities and an excellent material for keeping your coffee fresh. You can enjoy responsibly sourced coffee every day and recycle the bag when you’re done for a sustainable coffee experience from beginning to end.

Thank you for supporting Impact Berry Coffee. Together with you, we are planting the seed of thought, that with small actions you can make an impact.